Thursday, December 31, 2015

Hey everyone! Unfortunately for this month, I had been slowing down on
my posting and I haven't gotten a lot of reading done like I hoped I
would. Well, I hope I get some more reading done in 2016! Well, here's a brief rundown of all the
challenges, books read
and other activities I've done for this month!

Now, I have to tell everyone
who reads this review something…I am a HUGE
FAN OF “BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER!!!”I have always loved that show and when I heard that they were making
comic books out of this series, of course I had to check them out!So, when I picked up the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus Volume One,” I was wondering what
this volume was going to be all about and to my excitement and delight, this
volume detailed the early years of Buffy Summers when she first moved to
Sunnydale and how she became a vampire slayer and I was quite impressed with
the whole experience!

What is this story
about?

This volume contains five stories that details Buffy’s first
year as a vampire slayer and also features other characters during their early
years such as Angel, Spike and Drusilla.These are the five stories featured in this omnibus:

All’s Fair:

Written by: Christopher Golden

Artwork by: Eric Powell

In this story, Spike and Drusilla (Dru) go off to the World’s
Fair in 1933, causing mayhem as they suck out the blood from various unfortunate
human beings while discovering a demon who wants to be freed from its prison at
the same time!

Buffy: The Origin

Written by: Dan Brereton and Christopher Golden

Artwork by: Joe Bennett

Based off of Joss
Whedon’s original script for the origin story of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” this story details how Buffy Summers
first became the vampire slayer we all know and love and the character
development that she goes through to realize her true destiny.

Viva Las Buffy!

Written by: Scott Lobdell and Fabian Nicieza

Artwork by: Cliff Richards

After Buffy gets expelled for burning down her old school,
she and Pike run away from home and ended up in Las Vegas to start a new
life.But, Buffy will soon learn that
she cannot run away from her problems when she encounters a sinister ring going
on inside the casino.

Dawn and Hoopy the
Bear

Written and artwork by: Paul Lee

Dawn Summers, Buffy’s younger sister, ends up getting a cute
little teddy bear named Hoopy the Bear from a total stranger and while she
loves her teddy bear unconditionally, she will soon realize that Hoopy the Bear
is not what he seems at all...

Slayer,
Interrupted

Written by: Scott Lobdell and Fabian Nicieza

Artwork by: Cliff Richards

Inspired by the “Buffy
the Vampire Slayer” TV episode “Normal
Again,” Buffy’s parents ended up admitting Buffy to a rehab center since
they believed that Buffy has gone insane when she started talking about her
vampire slaying business.Has Buffy
really gone insane and her vampire slaying business is really all in her head
or is Buffy’s destiny truly real?

What I loved about
this story:

The writing: Oh my goodness!Who would have thought that several separate
stories about Buffy’s early years as a vampire slayer would be mind-blowing
good?I have to tell you that I enjoyed
each story in this volume (although the only story that I thought was half-way
decent was “Dawn and Hoopy the Bear”)
and I think that each writer had done this series a true justice!I was always curious about the origin story
of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” since
I was only familiar with the TV series created by Joss Whedon and I have never seen the original 1992 movie that
detailed the origin story of “Buffy the
Vampire Slayer,” although I did see bits and pieces of the movie when I was
younger.When I first found out that the
original 1992 movie was not what Joss
Whedon originally intended when he scripted out the origin story for “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” I was a bit
surprised (and yet not really, since this is Hollywood we are talking about) and
I was glad that we got a closer interpretation of Joss Whedon’s vision of the origin story of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” in this omnibus since I wanted to see
how Joss Whedon really wanted Buffy’s
origin story to go.I also enjoyed the
fact that we get to see not only Buffy’s early years, but other characters too
like Spike, Drusilla and Angel.I really
loved Spike and Drusilla’s story since they are truly funny together and I
always wanted to know what Spike was like before he met Buffy.I was also really excited to see Angel in
this omnibus since I love Angel as a character, even though I wished that Angel
had his own story in this volume so we get to learn more about his character
during his early years.

The artwork:The
artwork in each story is truly beautiful and effective to look at, especially
with how each artist manage to capture the actor and actresses’ true facial
expressions.I think the artists that
really captured Sarah Michelle Gellar’s
facial expressions the best were Joe
Bennet and Cliff Richards as they truly draw the characters realistically
and it felt like I was really watching a TV episode of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” since each character look like their
live action counterparts from the TV series!

What made me feel
uncomfortable about this story:

For anyone who does not like language and gory violence in a
graphic novel, this omnibus does have some language and gory violence (mostly
revolving around Buffy staking vampires in gory ways).Also, I have mentioned that the short story “Dawn and Hoopy the Bear” was a story
line that I could have done without since I felt that this story did not really
bring anything to the main stories and was just there to tell a story about
Dawn.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus Volume 1” is a truly fantastic
volume for anyone who is a huge fan of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” in general and who wants
to learn more about the origin stories of our favorite vampire slayer!

Friday, December 25, 2015

Hello everyone! This is the first time that I had written a post about what kind of goals I'm planning to set for myself for both my book blog and my personal goals. So, here are some goals that I am planning to complete in 2016:

BOOKISH GOALS:

Read at least 100 books: I haven't exactly met this goal in 2015 like I originally planned since my new job got in the way of me reading books than usual, so hopefully things will turn out better for me in 2016 and hopefully I can read at least 100 books by the end of 2016!

Comment on other book blogs: Even though I have been visiting other book blogs, I rarely got the chance to comment on everyone's pages, so in 2016, I will change that by trying to comment on everyone's pages for now on.

Participate in more challenges: Even though I have been participating in a lot of challenges this year, I would love to spread out some more in 2016 and I am definitely planning on participating in different challenges next year!

Start making posts daily: I noticed that I haven't been posting every day as I should have, so in 2016, I will try to post something every day, whether it's a review, a book meme or discussion posts.

PERSONAL GOALS:

Lose up to 70 lbs: I have been on this long term goal to lose weight and get up to at least 130 lbs. something that I have been struggling with for years. In 2016, I will try to exercise every day and eat healthy to get to the weight I desire!

Clean up my room: My room is a disaster area and I need to find the time to clean out my room and make it more organized.

Find a better job: Working at Dollar General is alright, but it's not enough to help me pay through my student loans and such, so I'm going to try to find another job that pays more and has better benefits, while staying at Dollar General awhile longer until I get something better.

Focus on getting rid of stress: My job is pretty stressful, so I'm trying to find ways to become less stressful and start having fun with my life!

So, what are some goals you are planning on completing in 2016? Please feel free to comment below!

The Feature and Follow Friday Meme isHOSTED by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read and
basically what this meme is all about is that you get to new followers
and make new friends with the Book Blogging Community by following eachBLOGGER!
All you have to do is leave your name and your blog name on the post on
the main Feature and Follow Friday Meme page and then create your own
post on Feature and Follow Friday and link back to the main page and
then you visit as many blogs as you want and you tell the other bloggers
"hi!" in their comments (on the post that has the Feature and Follow
Friday Image). You follow that blogger and they follow you back! Just make sure to follow back if that blogger follows you back!

Hey everyone! MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HOLIDAYS to everyone! So, Christmas was today and I have to tell you that I had a wonderful time today! I got so many great presents from my family including the Avengers: Age of Ultron DVD, Inside Out DVD and the Ant Man DVD! I'm definitely planning on watching all of those DVDs as soon as possible, while enjoying some time off from work! So, how was everyone else's holidays? Did you get great gifts? Please comment below!

Question of the Week:
What was the best Christmas (or other holiday) gift you ever received? - Suggested by Alison Can Read.

Ooh boy, I had a lot of great gifts over the years, but probably some of the best gifts I've ever received were a Barnes and Nobles gift card, the Ant Man movie on DVD and Avengers: Age of Ultron on DVD!

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at
Should be Reading and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just
answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the
comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a
comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

This is the first time I've been reading two books at the same time and they are "The Martian" by Andy Weir and "Scarlet" by A.C. Gaughen! I've been loving the humor so far in "The Martian" and I loved the spin on the classic "Robin Hood" tale in "Scarlet" as we have a strong female protagonist!

I've just finished reading Lisa Kleypas' "Brown - Eyed Girl" and even though I thought it wasn't as memorable as the previous "Travis Family" books, I still enjoyed it!

I'm going to try to read "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albetalli since I've heard so many good things about this book and it would be great to have another book about diversity added to my pile!

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Hello! I'm Ronyell and anyone who wants to be my friend is free to become friends with me! Also, I love followers on my blog, since I have so many great things to talk about the various books I read from time to time. I love to read, exercise, sleep and surf on the internet, with reading being my most favorite activity.
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